Why do some atheists say that "life has no meaning"

It might well be true that I confuse folks who don't know much about the Bible to begin with.

 

Only through your own misunderstanding of the 'Bible'.

 

Just a suggestion folks. I too would love to join in a hearty debate about the "Holy Bible" publication, and discuss the pros and cons. But not in a thread about atheists. How about starting a new thread?

 

The "complexity" has no other source than the fact that you are trying to defend an indefensible premise, and quite naturally can hardly do so without contradicting yourself.

You are contending for an idea which is intellectually and morally bankrupt, and which has, at best, no potential benefit, but will surely be poisonous to anyone who takes it to heart; so we have prima facie evidence that you don't much care whether you live at other people's expense or not.

 

Getting back to the op, I don't consider these kinds of people atheists, they go a bit beyond that.

These are people who have been disillusioned by everything.

And with this crappy world that we live, I can't blame trhem.

What is there to believe in when there is nothing to believe in at all?

Hwo does one learn to believe in something after that?

And how do we keep from being disillusioned again?

 

Why must you have 'something to believe in'? And what does that even mean? Is it only applicable to supernatural things? If so, again, why?

Many people live wonderful, rich lives, full of purpose and meaning, without ever 'believing in something' mystical or supernatural.

 

There are so many direct contradictions in the bible that nobody could actually try to defend it's validity. If the ten star reporters at the NY Times had been sent to cover the events reported during Jesus' time based on the bible the story would not have been printed and the reporters would have been fired.

 

1, I don't have an answer fot that one. I've been asking it for years myself.

2. I don't know that either.

3. No, it doesn't have to be sothing religious or supernatural, it can be ideological, such as being a patriot.

 

To me our original patriots were anything but religious. The ones who worshipped selected a faith similar to the of the American Indians.....a god of nature. This excerpt from our declaration of independence shows the factual feelings they had:

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation"

 

okay, ro whom are you referring to as the original patriots?

And secondly, I'd like to know the source of that quote, please.

 

To be honest, I have not spent a great deal of time discussing this topic on PF, so there might seem to be a controdiction merely because I havne't yet found the perfect words way to formulate my thoughts. Now, I want you to have some understanding with that and drop the hatin'. For starters, wherein lies the contradiction?

There's really no value judgement to any of this, so I don't see how you can say it's morally bankrupt. This is just how I believe things are. How I act upon that i another thing entirely. It certainly can be poisonous, but that's wholly irrelevant to wheter it actually is so or not.

 

"We're only here for a short time, and nobody knows why" Albert Einstein
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Atheists say life is meaningless, because it is. Except for the rich, famous and powerful, 90% of people on this earth don't want to be here anyway. We're all just clinging to a little ball of mud revolving ever meaninglessly around the Sun. We just have to make the best of a hopeless situation which is no fault of our own -- blame the parents.

Even though the world is an ultra-mean and cruel place, we have to try to survive and be as kind to one another as we can.

Gracias and good luck, HA HA HA HA! (maniacal and derisive laughter).

 

Obviously you know practically nothing about them.

The day you do is the day you abandon whatever is left of your sanity.

I can hardly drop what I never had ahold of in the first place.

You say life is meaningless, from which if follows ineluctably that anything that may be said about it is also meaningless; yet here you are, contending for this absurdity as if it has value, when by your own reasoning it has none. In particular, you accuse me of nitpicking - i.e., focusing on insignificant details - when by your own admission none of it is significant.

Actually it is the most arrogant value judgment conceivable, AFAIK.

I explained that in my previous post.

Like Hell it is. You just dislike the idea that another entity may impart to your life such meaning as it will, and you've latched onto this threadbare nihilist cliche as justification.

The same can be said for strychnine, which can hardly act as a poison if not ingested.

 

Why would the reporters have been fired?

 

Why do people ignorant of atheism ascribe attitudes to them which all atheists do not possess?

 

Generalizations are easy so they don't have to think about it.

 

Probably for the parallel reason that some people ignorant of Christianity ascribe attitudes to them which all Christians do not possess.

 

Incorrect! Man created GODs

 

When people believe that they are the center of the universe, ultimately this is all they will often be left with.

 

Being the center of the universe is a life with meaning. That's not what we're talking about here. We're talking about the unfortunate few who aren't the center of the universe. My heart goes out to them.

 

Yes yes, and the meal fixed the chef and the song wrote the artist and the building built the architect. I get it. Man apparently created everything except himself. Which evolved over a lengthy process of trial and error that completely negates the existence of purpose or morality. Which leads us right back to the OP; that atheism ultimately leads to life holding no meaning.

 

with respect, are you 10 years old? this reads like the bleatings of a kid, parroting whatever demonization his pastor/parents fed him to insure against him ever thinking about 'moving on'. I understand you've probably added to this notion with strategic filtering of facts (like, no one but (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)s and three year olds think they're the centre of the universe, and both come in every flavour), but the foundation idea is embarrassingly preposterous.

 

I wouldn't have an insightful opinion to offer, since I'm not an atheist.

Please explain how your life has meaning that it would not have if God did not exist.

 

Uh oh, looks like I touched a nerve here. Somebody got offended.

 

Interesting. So you believe that man created God, but you are not an atheist. Would you care to explain that one?